How Did an Unknown, Unemployed Veteran Win in SC

Alvin Greene is a 32-year-old unemployed veteran nobody had ever heard of, who did not air a single campaign ad, and can not seem to recall any campaign appearances he made.

In an interview he was asked, "Did you ever have a party for your candidacy, a fundraiser of any sort?"

His answer: "No formal, none of that."

And earlier this month, Greene scored an 18-point win to become South Carolina Democrats' Senate nominee, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Greenfield.

Lawmaker Asks State Police to Probe S.C. Primary

How did a person whose only brush with fame was a felony arrest for showing an obscene photograph do it? Good question.

One explanation: a lot of voters simply picked the first name on the ballot.

Or did the voting machines malfunction? So far, there's no real evidence of that.

Then there's the mistaken identity possibility. One voter did say she thought she was voting for soul singer Al Green.

Or maybe there's something in the water. After all, their governor, Mark Sanford, had to admit that the Appalachian trail he was hiking had taken him to a lover in Argentina.

And Sanford's likely successor, Nikki Haley, had to endure accusations of infidelity.

University of South Carolina Professor Lacy Ford has a simpler explanation: that press coverage of the campaign was thin enough, he says, to leave almost every voter more or less ignorant.

"Voters just don't have access to the information that they would have had eight years ago," says Ford.

Skeptics ask another question: How did someone with no job and no visible assets come up with the $10,000 filing fee?

Greene said in an interview it came from his savings.

If Democrats do decide on another vote they might try running: "Your name here."